DURBAN - Sharks flank Philip van der Walt has backed captain Patrick Lambie in his decisions to kick for the corners rather than take shots at goal in the side's 28-26 defeat to the Reds in Brisbane last week.
The Sharks are in Sydney preparing for Saturday’s match against the Brumbies, and Van der Walt said the Sharks should have nailed the victory in a series of penalty kicks to the corner.
“We let the Reds off the hook. We back the captain in opting to give the forwards a number of chances to seal the win with a try,” the 28-year-old said. “We back our maul and we should have secured the win in those last 10 minutes but did not because of poor discipline and execution. They were a man down (lock Kane Douglas was in the bin) and we should have been able to capitalise on that.”
Van der Walt, a chartered accountant, said the Sharks had only themselves to blame for not winning their opening game.
“We always felt in control of the scoreboard, and we should have controlled the game better. It was a very frustrating game in that we had little possession because we kept on giving them the ball. We should have exited from our half better instead of giving them line-outs.”
Van der Walt, who hails from Port Elizabeth, accelerated through the ranks of the Cheetahs’ age-group teams while at university in Bloemfontein. He had a season with French club Biarritz before returning to South Africa to join the Sharks.
“We were happy with our defence and our work rate against the Reds. But we have to be better technically with our defence this week against the Brumbies,” he said. “We were gutsy in how we scrambled on defence but we should not be in the position where we have to make so many try-saving tackles."
This week the Sharks travel to Canberra after a week of preparation in Sydney.
“The Brumbies are a well-organised team. They have a tradition of excellent coaches, going all the way back to Eddie Jones, Jake White and now Stephen Larkham.
"They have a solid set piece and strong ball-carriers. They don't have the biggest names but are well-drilled and slick in what they do," said Van der Walt. "This is going to be a huge challenge for us.”